How to Know if a Crash Course is a Good Idea for You

Learning to drive is a rite of passage for many teenagers and young adults, and for many it is a cornerstone of the transition from adolescence to independence. The hardest part is learning to drive; for some people this comes naturally, and in fact a lot of people now come to driving lessons with some prior experience in driving a car. Regardless of any real-world experience one may have, the law remains the same and a full driver’s licence can only be applied for once one has completed their practical assessment.

Whether you are already competent and confident behind the wheel of a car, or you just think that an intense learning course is more suited to your individual learning style, a crash course in driving is perfectly suited for some individuals.

Get Done Quicker

This is the main selling point of crash courses; they can be over in as little as a few weeks or as much as a few months, they can be tailored to individuals, so if you do find you need longer in the car you can take it; no one will expect you to run before you can walk.

Some people who are often nervous about these things find that because a crash course is so quick they almost don’t have time to start worrying. While diving in at the deep end might seem scary in one’s mind, it can also be a very effective learning experience, within reason of course. For example, there are crash courses that can be done within 7 days and some, such as the one provided by Momentum Driving School, can be done in just 5 days.

Experience

It should be noted that the DVLA recommends a particular number of hours be undertaken in lessons before issuing a license, however this is not a legal requirement. Your safety, and the safety of other road users, is always of paramount importance. Never be afraid to take more lessons if you feel like you need more experience. For example, because you will only be out on the road for a matter of weeks, you might not encounter the usual range of weather conditions and other factors that you would usually have to contend with.

Conversely, if you have already accumulated a reasonable amount of driving time, for example your parents may have taught you how to drive on private land, or indeed given you lessons themselves while wearing L plates on your car, then a crash course can be seen more like a final revision session before the driving exam, in which you can plug any gaps in your current understanding.

Information Retention

Different people have different learning styles; the way that your friends and family, for example, study for exams, or their attitude towards learning more practical things like how to drive, may be very different to your own. There is no right or wrong way to go about learning anything, it is all down to the individual and you will be the best judge of what does and doesn’t work for you. As long as you feel confident with learning to drive in a short, intense course, that’s what counts.

Many people find that with their driving lessons spread out, they end up procrastinating and losing interest, and so what should be a relatively quick and painless process ends up being stretched out needlessly. This means that not only do the lessons cost more in the long run, but they become less reliable as you will inevitably forget some of what you have learned as time goes on. If students start to lose interest, then their attention span and information retention will suffer. In general, it seems that the completion rate is much higher for intensive driving courses, meaning that a greater portion of the students who embark upon them see them through until the end.

If you think you are someone who learns best by repeating tasks over and over again, then a crash course is probably more suitable for you. This is because you will repeat tasks and techniques over a period of hours, and then again over days. This means that those that learn best by doing are likely to benefit the most.

Cost Effective

With crash courses, efficiency is key; in terms of both the approach that instructors take in teaching the course, and the attitude it demands of its students in order to successfully complete it. When one considers how students spend their time in a crash course versus a standard driving lesson, the crash course represents better value for money, with a higher portion of a student’s time spent engaged in some form of learning.

Crash courses also allow students to build up a momentum and hit a peak. There is some evidence to suggest that performing tasks in this manner aids in our learning of them, whereas with a regular driving lesson usually the lesson terminates just as the driver is hitting this level of concentration. The best crash course driving instructors will understand the natural rhythm of intensive learning, which is defined by peaks and troughs. Planning lessons effectively means taking advantage of these rises and falls in the brain’s performance.

If money is a concern for you, then it is worth considering a crash course. Remember, there is nothing to stop you taking another crash course, representing more lessons, if you need to. Speak with your local provider; they are unlikely to turn down the opportunity to make more money, so it is worth asking if they are flexible with the schedule.

Greater Rapport Between Instructor and Student

Usually driving lessons last for an hour or so and then there is a gap of roughly a week between lessons. This means that lessons cut short just as pupils are getting fully involved and it limits the time that teacher and student have to build a rapport with one another. There is some evidence to suggest that when a student has an effective rapport with their instructor, they become more receptive to instructions and their ability to recall and apply information is increased.

Our brains process the day’s events when we go to sleep and this is where much of what we encounter during a day is stored and learned so that it is available for future use. Because of this, crash courses offer an advantage because every day the student will practice things skills that they first encountered yesterday, this helps to reinforce the memory of them in the brain.

The difference that rapport has on learning varies between individuals. Some people find that they require a rapport to avoid succumbing to other issues such as social anxiety; we naturally loosen up when we have a rapport with someone and the more familiar we become around people the less our brains are distracted trying to analyse their behaviour for social cues. If you think this applies to you, a crash course might be the best way for you to learn to drive.

Intensive crash courses have become more popular in recent years. Whether this is a reflection of changing attitudes to learning to drive, or an inevitable by-product of our fast-paced modern world is up for debate. What is certain, however, is that for many drivers, crash courses represent the best value and most people are likely to succeed when learning to drive in this way.